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I was in Hobbycraft at the weekend and thought I would look out for a couple of small craft kits that my daughters would enjoy but I did not want to spend too much either. After browsing for a while I came across a kit entitled Create your own Spin Art which looked like it might be a bit of fun. Also, at £5.99 it was well within my budget. On the box it states that you can create beautiful patterns with a spinning top and that it's amazing! It also shows lots of pictures of completed designs that look very bright and colourful.

The box contains just a few items. These are a spinning top with a 9.5cm diameter (you have to put this together), 20 paper discs, three squeezable tubes of paint and some instructions. It is also important to keep hold of the box as well as you will need the inside of this as a spinning area.

The instructions say that this art kit is suitable for children aged five and above. However, they do recommend adult assistance and supervision and I would agree that this is probably necessary - at least to get them started!

The idea is that you place a paper disc on top of the spinner (there is a convenient hole to keep it in place). You then spin the top round inside the box and as it spins around you hold one of the paint tubes above it and squeeze just a few drops onto the spinning paper. The movement of the spinner helps to make a coloured pattern that does not look too different to a spider's web. It all sounds reasonably straightforward but my daughter has found it quite tricky. It is very important to get a good even spin before dripping the paint and she does find this quite difficult. Also, it does not take too much pressure to drop more paint than you want on the discs and then you soon have a soggy mess. This is why it is best that an adult is helping even though fiercely independent six year olds might not welcome them doing so!

Having said that though, my daughter is delighted with her snazzy artwork, even though we can't say that hers looks anything like the examples on the box! The main thing is that they are her own work and she is very proud of them! She has now made enough to turn them into a mobile to hang in her bedroom which is one of the ideas suggested for the completed discs. Other suggestions include bookmarks, photo frames or greetings cards. I like these ideas as they provide something tangible after the fun of making!

Spin art is quite a quick art activity as you can produce one disc in just about a minute but you do need to wait for it to dry. There is also the minimal amount of mess particularly as any paint that sprays off goes inside the bow. I would suggest working on a newspaper or old cloth though - just in case! Also a good idea would be to decide on a project and to paint the number of discs that you need in one go, wait for them to dry and then finish it off.

Overall I think that this is quite a reasonable art kit especially as it is quite inexpensive. It is also easy for children to produce something successfully in just a short time. Do be prepared to keep an eye on them though!

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Product Details

Create beautiful patterns with a spinning top. It's just amazing! Contains 1 spinning top (9.5 cm in diameter), 20 paper discs (blank both sides for creating 40 spin art designs) and 3 different paints in squeezable tubes. Detailed instructions are included as are ideas for applying the spin arts to make different craft projects.